WO2022205995A1

WO2022205995A1 - Traffic flow processing method, apparatus and system

Info

Publication number: WO2022205995A1
Application number: PCT/CN2021/135508
Authority: WO
Inventors: 于游洋; 时书锋
Original assignee: 华为技术有限公司
Priority date: 2021-03-31
Filing date: 2021-12-03
Publication date: 2022-10-06
Also published as: US20240015593A1; CN115150895A; EP4307763A4; EP4307763A1

Abstract

The present application discloses a traffic flow processing method, apparatus and system, for use in providing a method for supporting a user plane network element to flexibly perform traffic flow processing on the basis of a traffic flow splitting situation of a terminal device. The method comprises: a terminal device receiving first policy information of a session management network element, the first policy information comprising a first processing method for an uplink traffic flow; if the terminal device satisfies a first condition, determining a second processing method for the uplink traffic flow or a downlink traffic flow; and sending first notification information to a user plane network element, the first notification information being used for notifying the user plane network element to determine a third processing method for the downlink traffic flow. In the method, after the terminal device satisfies the first condition, the first notification information is sent to the user plane network element to assist the user plane network element in deciding whether to update a flow splitting mode of the corresponding traffic flow, thereby effectively preventing the user plane network element from blindly determining a downlink flow splitting policy.

Description

A service flow processing method, device and system

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims the priority of the Chinese patent application with the application number of 202110352126.5 and the application title of "a business flow processing method, device and system" filed with the China Patent Office on March 31, 2021, the entire contents of which are incorporated by reference in in this application.

technical field

The present application relates to the field of communication technologies, and in particular, to a service flow processing method, device, and system.

Background technique

With the development of communication technologies, terminal devices often realize the migration or concurrency of service flows between different access technologies or different access network devices through multiple access protocol data unit (Protocol Data Unit, PDU) sessions. In scenarios where traffic moves or is concurrent between multiple access technologies, it is often necessary to select routes or adjust the offload ratio based on the link status. Therefore, user plane network elements, such as UPF, are required to grasp the link status in real time and adjust the offload mode in time. .

However, in a scenario in which a user equipment (User Equipment, terminal equipment) assists (assistance) offloading mode (that is, the terminal device performs autonomous offloading based on the current state and does not adopt the offloading mode allocated by the network side), the prior art does not disclose how to deal with it. business flow.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present application provides a service flow processing method, apparatus and system in the scenario of terminal equipment-assisted offloading mode.

In a first aspect, the present application provides a service flow processing method, the method comprising:

The terminal device receives the first policy information from the session management network element, where the first policy information includes the first processing method of the upstream service flow; if the terminal device satisfies the first condition, the terminal device determines the upstream service flow The terminal device sends first notification information to the user plane network element, where the first notification information is used to notify the user plane network element to determine the processing method of the downlink service flow corresponding to the upstream service flow.

Based on the above solution, in the embodiment of the present application, after the terminal device satisfies the first condition and enters the auxiliary offload mode (that is, after using the second processing method to process the corresponding service flow), the terminal device sends the first condition to the user plane network element by sending the first A notification message to assist the user plane network element in deciding whether to update the offload mode of the corresponding downlink service flow, and determine the downlink offload policy based on the request of the terminal device (ie, according to the content of the first notification message). This effectively prevents the user plane network element from blindly determining the downlink offload strategy when the information is insufficient, so that the terminal equipment and the user plane network element have better coordination and adaptability when processing the service flow.

As a possible implementation method, the first policy information further includes first indication information, where the first indication information is used to indicate that the terminal device can determine a processing method for the upstream service flow.

Based on the above solution, when the first policy information further includes the first indication information in this embodiment of the present application, it can be understood that the terminal device can perform an auxiliary offload mode.

As a possible implementation method, the first notification information includes: the terminal device determines the reason information for using the second processing method to process the upstream service flow; and/or, the terminal device determines the first The second processing method is effective first duration information.

Based on the above solution, in the embodiment of the present application, when the first notification information includes the reason information that the terminal device uses the second processing method to process the upstream service flow, the user plane network element that receives the first notification information can be enabled Knowing the reason why the terminal device uses the second processing method to process the upstream service flow, so as to better determine the content of the third processing method performed by itself, and even the time and/or time for processing the service flow according to the third processing method time etc. And/or, when the first notification information includes the first duration information that the terminal device adopts the second processing method, the user plane network element that receives the first notification information can be made aware that the terminal device adopts the second processing method. The processing method processes the time information of the upstream service flow, so as to better determine the time and/or duration of executing the third processing method by itself.

As a possible implementation method, the first notification information further includes: information of the second processing method. Based on the above solution, in this embodiment of the present application, when the first notification information includes the information of the second processing method, the user plane network element that receives the first notification information can be made aware of the content of the second processing method, and It is better to determine the content of executing the third processing method by itself.

As a possible implementation method, the information of the second processing method includes: description information and distribution information of the upstream service flow corresponding to the downstream service flow; or, flow description information and distribution information of the downstream service flow.

The downstream service flow corresponding to the upstream service flow refers to the service flow formed after the source-destination IP exchange is included. For example, the downstream service flow formed after the source-destination IP exchange is the corresponding downstream service of the source-destination IP upstream flow or, the downstream service flow corresponding to the upstream service flow refers to including the upstream and downstream service flows belonging to the same QoS flow. As a possible implementation method, the method further includes: receiving, by the terminal device, second notification information from the user plane network element, where the second notification information includes second indication information, and the second indication information A processing method for indicating whether the user plane network element changes the downlink service flow.

Based on the above solution, in this embodiment of the present application, the terminal device may determine whether the user plane network element cooperates with changing the method of processing the service flow according to the second notification information from the user plane network element, for example, determine whether the user plane network element agrees Enter the auxiliary shunt mode, which is more adaptable.

As a possible implementation method, if the second indication information indicates that the user plane network element does not change the processing method of the downlink service flow, the second notification message further includes: The second duration information of the processing method.

As a possible implementation method, the method further includes: within the time specified by the second duration information, the terminal device no longer sends the first notification information to the user plane network element.

Based on the above solution, in the embodiment of the present application, after the second notification information received by the terminal device indicates that the duration information of the first notification information is not to be sent to the user plane network element, the terminal device can be effectively prevented from being in the user plane. After the network element refuses to cooperate with the terminal device to adopt the same offloading mode, the problem of sending the first notification information to the user plane network element all the time saves signaling overhead.

As a possible implementation method, the method further includes: if the terminal device satisfies the second condition, the terminal device determines to use the first processing method to process the upstream service flow.

Based on the above solution, in this embodiment of the present application, after satisfying the second condition, the terminal device determines to use the first processing method to process the upstream service flow, that is, the terminal device can resume the main offload mode after meeting the second condition. As a possible implementation method, the method further includes: the terminal device sends third notification information to the user plane network element, which is used to notify the terminal device to use the first processing method to process the uplink service flow.

Based on the above solution, in the embodiment of the present application, after the terminal device satisfies the second condition and can restore the main offload mode, it sends the third notification information to the user plane network element, so that the user plane network element can receive the After the third notification information, the first processing method is restored to process the upstream service flow, which provides a solution that supports the user plane network element to cooperate with the terminal device to restore the main mode to perform downstream service flow offloading, which is more adaptable.

In a second aspect, the present application provides a service flow processing method, the method comprising:

The user plane network element receives second policy information from the session management network element, where the second policy information includes a fourth processing method for the downlink service flow of the terminal device; the user plane network element uses the fourth processing method to process the downlink service flow; the user plane network element receives the first notification information from the terminal device, and the first notification information is used to notify the user plane network element to determine the processing method of the downlink service flow; the user plane network element according to the first notification information A notification message determines that the third processing method is used to process the downlink service flow.

Based on the above solution, in this embodiment of the present application, the user plane network element may assist the user plane network element in deciding whether to update the offload mode of the corresponding downlink service flow according to the first notification information sent from the terminal device, and based on the According to the request of the terminal device (that is, according to the content of the first notification information), the downlink offload policy is determined. This effectively prevents the user plane network element from blindly determining the downlink offload strategy when the information is insufficient, so that the terminal equipment and the user plane network element have stronger coordination and adaptability when processing the service flow.

As a possible implementation method, the second policy information further includes second indication information, where the second indication information is used to indicate that the user plane can modify the processing method of the downlink service flow.

Based on the above solution, in this embodiment of the present application, when the second policy information further includes the second indication information, it can be understood that the network device can perform an auxiliary offload mode.

As a possible implementation method, the first notification information includes: the terminal device determines the reason information for using the second processing method to process the upstream service flow.

Based on the above solution, in the embodiment of the present application, when the first notification information includes the reason information that the terminal device uses the second processing method to process the upstream service flow, the user plane network element that receives the first notification information can be enabled Knowing the reason why the terminal device uses the second processing method to process the upstream service flow, so as to better determine the content of the third processing method performed by itself, and even the time and/or time for processing the service flow according to the third processing method time etc.

As a possible implementation method, the user plane network element determines the third processing method according to the cause information and the second indication information.

As a possible implementation method, the user plane network element determines the third processing method according to the cause information and the local policy of the user plane network element.

As a possible implementation method, the user plane network element determines the processing method of the downlink service flow according to the reason information, the second indication information and the local policy of the user plane network element.

As a possible implementation method, the first notification information further includes: description information and offload information of the upstream service flow corresponding to the downlink service flow; or, flow description information and offload information of the downlink service flow.

The downstream service flow corresponding to the upstream service flow refers to the service flow formed after the source-destination IP exchange is included. For example, the downstream service flow formed after the source-destination IP exchange is the corresponding downstream service of the source-destination IP upstream flow or, the downstream service flow corresponding to the upstream service flow refers to including the upstream and downstream service flows belonging to the same QoS flow.

Based on the above solution, in the embodiment of the present application, when the first notification information includes the description information and the offload information of the upstream service flow corresponding to the downlink service flow; or, when the flow description information and the offload information of the downlink service flow, the The user plane network element that has received the first notification information knows the content of the second processing method, and better determines the content of the third processing method to be executed by itself.

As a possible implementation method, the user plane network element determines the processing of the downlink service flow according to the description information and the offload information of the uplink service flow, or the flow description information and the offload information of the downlink service flow. method.

As a possible implementation method, the user plane network element determines the third processing method according to the description information and offload information of the uplink or downlink service flow.

As a possible implementation method, when the description information included in the first notification information is the downlink service flow, the user plane network element directly determines the downlink service flow based on the description information.

As a possible implementation method, when the description information included in the first notification information is the upstream service flow corresponding to the downstream service flow, the user plane network element maps the description information of the upstream service flow into Downlink service flow description information, and the downlink service flow is determined based on the downlink service flow description information.

As a possible implementation method, the priority of the third processing method is higher than that of the fourth processing method.

As a possible implementation method, the method further includes: determining second duration information using the third processing method.

As a possible implementation method, the first notification information further includes: first duration information for which the terminal device determines that the second processing method is valid. When the first notification information includes the first duration information that the terminal device adopts the second processing method, the user plane network element receiving the first notification information can be made aware that the terminal device adopts the second processing method to process the Time information of the upstream service flow, so as to better determine the time and/or duration of the third processing method performed by itself.

As a possible implementation method, the second duration information is confirmed based on the first duration information.

As a possible implementation method, the user plane network element sends second notification information to the user plane network element, where the second notification information includes second indication information, and the second indication information is used to indicate the user plane Whether the network element changes the processing method of the downlink service flow.

As a possible implementation method, the method further includes: within the time specified by the second duration information, the user plane network element does not receive the first notification information sent from the terminal device.

As a possible implementation method, the method further includes: receiving, by the user plane network element, third notification information from the terminal device, where the third notification information is used to notify the terminal device to adopt the first processing method The traffic flow is processed.

As a possible implementation method, the method further includes: the user plane network element uses the fourth processing method to process the service flow.

In a third aspect, the present application provides a service flow processing method, the method comprising:

The terminal device receives the first policy information from the session management network element, where the first policy information includes the first processing method of the upstream service flow; after the terminal device satisfies the first condition, the terminal device determines the upstream service a second processing method for a flow or a downstream service flow, and the second processing method is used to process the upstream service flow; the terminal device determines that the second condition is satisfied, and restores the first processing method to process the upstream service flow; The terminal device sends first notification information to the user plane network element, where the first notification information is used to notify the terminal device to use the first processing method to process the service flow.

As a possible implementation method, the first notification information includes: reason information for the terminal device to resume processing the upstream service flow by the first processing method.

As a possible implementation method, the first notification information further includes: information of the first processing method.

As a possible implementation method, the method further includes: receiving, by the terminal device, second notification information from the user plane network element, where the second notification information includes third indication information, and the third indication information A processing method for indicating whether the user plane network element changes the downlink service flow.

In a fourth aspect, the present application provides a service flow processing method, the method comprising:

The user plane network element receives the second policy information from the session management network element, where the second policy information includes the third processing method for the downlink service flow of the terminal device; the user plane network element uses the fourth processing method to process the downlink service flow ; the user plane network element receives the first notification information from the terminal equipment, and the first notification information is used to notify the terminal equipment to resume using the first processing method to process the service flow; the user plane network element according to the first processing method A notification message resumes using the third processing method to process the downlink service flow.

As a possible implementation method, the second policy information further includes second indication information, where the second indication information is used to indicate that the user plane can determine a processing method for the downlink service flow.

As a possible implementation method, the first notification information includes: reason information for the terminal device to resume using the first processing method to process the upstream service flow.

As a possible implementation method, before the user plane network element adopts the fourth processing method to process the downlink service flow, the user plane network element receives third notification information from the terminal device, and the third notification information The information is used to notify the user plane network element to determine the fourth processing method of the downlink service flow; the user plane network element determines the fourth processing method according to the third notification information.

As a possible implementation method, the third notification information includes: the terminal device determines the reason information for the second processing method to process the upstream service flow or the downstream service flow.

As a possible implementation method, the user plane network element determines the fourth processing method according to the reason information and the second indication information that the terminal device determines the second processing method to process the upstream service flow or the downstream service flow.

As a possible implementation method, the user plane network element determines the second processing method according to the terminal device to determine the reason information for processing the upstream service flow or the downstream service flow and the local policy of the user plane network element to determine the first Four processing methods.

As a possible implementation method, the user plane network element determines, according to the terminal device, the second processing method for processing the upstream service flow or the downstream service flow, the reason information, the second indication information, and the local network element of the user plane. A policy determines the fourth processing method.

As a possible implementation method, the first notification information and/or the third notification information further includes: description information and offload information of the upstream service flow corresponding to the downstream service flow.

As a possible implementation method, the first notification information and/or the third notification information further includes: description information and offload information of the downlink service flow.

As a possible implementation method, the priority of the fourth processing method is higher than that of the third processing method.

As a possible implementation method, the third notification information further includes: first duration information for which the terminal device determines that the second processing method is valid.

As a possible implementation method, the method further includes: determining second duration information using the fourth processing method.

As a possible implementation method, the user plane network element sends second notification information to the terminal device, where the second notification information includes third indication information, and the third indication information is used to indicate the user plane network element Whether to change the processing method of the downlink service flow.

As a possible implementation method, if the third indication information indicates that the user plane network element does not change the processing method of the downlink service flow, the second notification message further includes: The second duration information of the processing method.

As a possible implementation method, the method further includes: within the time specified by the second duration information, the user plane network element does not receive the third notification information sent from the terminal device.

In a fifth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a service flow processing apparatus, and the apparatus may be a terminal device or a chip used for the terminal device. The apparatus has any method for implementing the above-mentioned first aspect or performing any of the possible implementation manners of the above-mentioned first aspect. This function can be implemented by hardware or by executing corresponding software by hardware. The hardware or software includes one or more modules corresponding to the above functions.

In a sixth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a service flow processing apparatus, and the apparatus may be a user plane network element or a chip used for the user plane network element. The apparatus has any method of implementing the above second aspect or performing any of the possible implementations of the above second aspect. This function can be implemented by hardware or by executing corresponding software by hardware. The hardware or software includes one or more modules corresponding to the above functions.

In a seventh aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a service flow processing apparatus, and the apparatus may be a terminal device or a chip used for the terminal device. The apparatus has any method of implementing the above third aspect or performing any of the possible implementations of the above third aspect. This function can be implemented by hardware or by executing corresponding software by hardware. The hardware or software includes one or more modules corresponding to the above functions.

In an eighth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a service flow processing apparatus, and the apparatus may be a user plane network element or a chip used for a user plane network element. The apparatus has any method for implementing the above-mentioned fourth aspect or any possible implementation manner of the above-mentioned fourth aspect. This function can be implemented by hardware or by executing corresponding software by hardware. The hardware or software includes one or more modules corresponding to the above functions.

In a ninth aspect, an embodiment of the present application further provides a computer-readable storage medium, where instructions are stored in the computer-readable storage medium, and when the computer-readable storage medium runs on a computer, the processor causes the processor to execute the first to fourth aspects above any one of the aspects; or perform any method in any possible implementation manners of the first aspect to the fourth aspect above.

In a tenth aspect, an embodiment of the present application further provides a computer program product, the computer product includes a computer program, when the computer program runs, the processor causes the processor to execute any one of the first to fourth aspects above; Any method of any possible implementation of the one aspect to the fourth aspect.

In an eleventh aspect, an embodiment of the present application further provides a chip system, including a processor and a memory. The memory is used to store a computer program; the processor is used to call and run the computer program from the memory, so that the device installed with the chip system executes any one of the first to fourth aspects; or executes the first aspect A method of any of the possible implementations of the aspect to the fourth aspect.

In a twelfth aspect, an embodiment of the present application further provides a service flow processing system, including a session management network element, a user plane network element, and the like.

a session management network element, configured to send policy information to the user plane network element, where the policy information includes a method for processing downlink service flows of the terminal device;

a user plane network element, configured to receive the policy information from the session management network element; use the fourth processing method to process the downlink service flow; receive the first notification information from the terminal device, the first notification information A notification information is used to notify the user plane network element to determine the processing method of the downlink service flow; according to the first notification information, it is determined to use the third processing method to process the downlink service flow.

Description of drawings

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of an existing service flow transmission scenario between different access technologies or different access network devices;

2 is a schematic diagram of a first service flow processing system provided by the present application;

3 is a schematic diagram of a second service flow processing system provided by the present application;

4 is a schematic flowchart of a first service flow processing method provided by the present application;

5 is a schematic flowchart of a first service flow processing scenario-1 provided by the present application;

6 is a schematic flowchart of a second service flow processing method provided by the present application;

7 is a schematic flowchart of a second service flow processing scenario provided by the present application;

FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram of a service flow processing apparatus provided by the present application;

FIG. 9 is a schematic diagram of another service flow processing apparatus provided by the present application.

Detailed ways

In order to introduce the technical solutions of the present application more clearly and completely, the embodiments of the present application are described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

With the development of communication technologies, terminal devices often implement migration or concurrency of service flows between different access technologies or different access network devices through multiple access protocol data unit (Protocol Data Unit, PDU) sessions.

Exemplarily, as shown in FIG. 1 , the PDU Session A may be transmitted through the first technology first, and then the PDU Session A may be transmitted through the second technology; or, the PDU Session A uses the first technology and the The second technology is transmitted to expand the bandwidth. Wherein, the content of the first technology and/or the second technology in the embodiments of this application includes but is not limited to 3GPP access technology, non3GPP access technology, LTE access technology, 5GRAN access technology, trusted non3GPP access technology Access technology, untrusted non3GPP access technology, WLAN access technology, fixed network access technology, etc. For example, the first access technology is a 3GPP access technology, and the second access technology is a non-3GPP access technology; or, the first access technology is a 5G/NR access technology, and the second access technology is a WLAN access technology.

Among them, for scenarios where service flows move or concurrently between multiple access technologies, it is often necessary to select a route or adjust the distribution ratio based on the status of the link. Therefore, the user plane network element function needs to grasp the link status in real time and perform flow distribution in time. Mode adjustment.

In the scenario of mobile or concurrent service flow between multiple access technologies, there is often a situation in which the terminal device performs autonomous traffic distribution based on its current state without using network-side allocation, which is called terminal device assistance (terminal device-assistance). ) shunt mode. For example, when the terminal device is in a low power state, the terminal device may choose to move all traffic flows to one access technology side for transmission, and then turn off the signal on the access side of the other side, so as to save power.

However, at present, for the situation of the auxiliary offload mode of the terminal device, the specific behavior of the user plane network element after the terminal device enters the auxiliary mode is not disclosed, and since the adjustment of the offload mode by the terminal device is an autonomous behavior, the user plane network element The downstream service flow cannot be adjusted accordingly according to the request of the terminal device.

To solve this problem, an embodiment of the present application provides a service flow distribution method. The technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application can be applied to various communication systems, such as: long term evolution (LTE) system, LTE frequency division duplex (freq terminal equipment ncy division duplex, FDD) system, LTE time division duplex ( time division duplex (TDD), universal mobile telecommunication system (UMTS), worldwide interoperability for microwave access (WIMAX) communication system, 5th generation (5G) system or new wireless (new radio, NR), or applied to future communication systems or other similar communication systems, such as 6G systems.

Taking the 5G system (also referred to as the New Radio system) as an example, specifically, the embodiments of the present application are directed to the existing service flow offloading process, and the user plane network element cannot perform corresponding offload adjustment on the downlink service flow in cooperation with the request of the terminal device. It provides a corresponding business diversion scheme to effectively improve the business diversion mechanism.

To facilitate understanding of the embodiments of the present application, firstly, a communication system applicable to the embodiments of the present application is described in detail by taking the communication system shown in FIG. 2 as an example. As shown in FIG. 2 , the communication system includes a terminal device 200 , a session management network element 210 and a user plane network element 220 . Wherein, there may be multiple terminal devices 200 .

The terminal device 200 is a device that provides voice and/or data connectivity to a user, and may also be referred to as user equipment (user equipment, terminal equipment), access terminal, subscriber unit, subscriber station, mobile station, mobile station, A remote station, remote terminal, mobile device, user terminal, terminal, wireless communication device, user agent or user equipment. The terminal in the embodiments of the present application may be a mobile phone (mobile phone), a tablet computer (Pad), a computer with a wireless transceiver function, a virtual reality (virtual reality, VR) terminal, an augmented reality (augmented reality, AR) terminal, industrial Wireless terminal in industrial control, wireless terminal in self driving, wireless terminal in remote medical, wireless terminal in smart grid, transportation safety Wireless terminals in smart cities, wireless terminals in smart cities, wireless terminals in smart homes, and so on.

The session management network element 210 is mainly responsible for establishing a corresponding session connection on the network side when a user initiates a service, so as to provide a specific service for the user.

Wherein, the session management network element 210 described in the embodiment of the present application may be an SMF, or may be another network element having the function of the session management network element described in the embodiment of the present application, which is not limited herein.

For example, based on the interface between the SMF and the user plane network element, the data packet forwarding policy, the QoS policy, etc. are delivered to the user plane network element.

The user plane network element 220 is mainly responsible for packet data packet forwarding, QoS control, charging information statistics, and the like.

The user plane network element described in the embodiments of the present application may be UPF, or may be other network elements having the functions of the user plane network elements described in the embodiments of the present application, which are not limited herein.

Wherein, in this embodiment of the present application, the terminal device may be switched from a 4G communication system to a 5G communication system, or may be switched from a 5G communication system to a 4G communication system, which is not specifically limited.

Further, in the embodiment of the present application, the communication system may also include other devices, which are not limited to the following:

Exemplarily, the communication system may also include a (radio access network, (R)AN) network element 230 and a policy control function (PCF) network element 240 as shown in FIG. 3 . , Network Exposure Function (NEF)/Application Function (AF) network element 250, access and mobility management function (AMF) network element 260, and unified data management (UDM) ) network element 270, etc.

The RAN network element 230 is used to provide a network access function for authorized terminal equipment in a specific area, and can use transmission tunnels of different qualities according to the level of the terminal equipment, service requirements, and the like.

The RAN network element can manage radio resources, provide access services for terminal equipment, and then complete the forwarding of control signals and terminal equipment data between the terminal equipment and the core network. The RAN device in this application is a device that provides a wireless communication function for a terminal device, and the RAN device is also called an access network device. The RAN equipment in this application includes but is not limited to: next-generation base station (g nodeB, gNB), evolved node B (evolved node B, eNB), radio network controller (radio network controller, RNC), node B in 5G (node B, NB), base station controller (BSC), base transceiver station (base transceiver station, BTS), home base station (for example, home evolved nodeB, or home node B, HNB), baseband unit (baseBand unit, BBU), transmission point (transmitting and receiving point, TRP), transmitting point (transmitting point, TP), mobile switching center, etc.

The PCF network element 240 is mainly used to generate a control policy according to the request information of the AF, operator policy, user subscription information, etc., to control network behavior, and deliver the control policy to the control plane network element for policy execution.

The NEF/AF network element 250 is mainly used for initiating a network reservation request, carrying service description information (such as IP quintuple, application IP, etc.) and the requested network resources (it can be an identifier negotiated by the AF and the operator in advance, For example, Single Network Slice Selection Assistance Information (S-NSSAI)).

The AMF network element 260 is mainly used for mobility management in the mobile network, such as user location update, user registration network, user handover, and the like.

The UDM network element 270 is a network element mainly responsible for managing subscription information of terminal equipment.

Among them, in the system architecture shown in Figure 3, the interface names and functions between each network element are as follows:

(1) N7, refers to the interface between PCF and SMF, used for PDU session and service data flow control policy delivery.

(2) N15, refers to the interface between PCF and AMF, used for terminal equipment mobility and network selection control policy delivery.

(3) N5, refers to the interface between AF and PCF, which is used for application service request (carrying service requirements for quality of service such as bandwidth, resource preemption priority, etc.) and network events (such as user wireless access network type) , 3G, 4G and other access methods) report.

(4) N4 refers to the interface between the SMF and the user plane network element, which is used to transmit information between the control plane and the user plane, including controlling the distribution of forwarding rules, QoS control rules, and traffic statistics rules for the user plane. And user plane information (such as application information detected by the user plane, usage monitoring information, etc.) is reported.

(5) N11 refers to the interface between SMF and AMF, which is used to transfer user plane tunnel information between RAN and user plane network elements, transfer control messages sent to terminal equipment, and transfer radio resource control information sent to RAN. Wait.

(6) N2 refers to the interface between the AMF and the RAN, and is used to transmit radio bearer control information from the core network side to the RAN.

(7) N1, which refers to the interface between the AMF and the terminal device, irrespective of access, and is used to transmit QoS control rules and the like to the terminal device.

The network architecture and service scenarios described in the embodiments of the present application are for the purpose of illustrating the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application more clearly, and do not constitute a limitation on the technical solutions provided by the embodiments of the present application. The evolution of the architecture and the emergence of new business scenarios, the technical solutions provided in the embodiments of the present application are also applicable to similar technical problems. It should be understood that FIG. 2 and FIG. 3 are only simplified schematic diagrams for easy understanding, and the communication system may also include other network devices or other terminals, which are not shown in FIG. 2 and FIG. 3 .

It should be noted that, the "network element" in this embodiment of the present application may also be referred to as an entity, a device, an apparatus, or a module, etc., which is not particularly limited in the present application. In addition, in this application, in order to facilitate understanding and description, the description of "network element" is omitted in some descriptions. For example, a UPF network element is referred to as UPF. In this case, the "UPF network element" should be understood as UPF. A network element or a UPF entity, hereinafter, the description of the same or similar situations is omitted. It can be understood that the above network elements or functions may be network elements in hardware devices, software functions running on dedicated hardware, or virtualized functions instantiated on a platform (eg, a cloud platform).

This embodiment of the present application is an optional implementation manner. The foregoing network element or function may be implemented by one device, or may be jointly implemented by multiple devices, or may be a functional module in one device, which is not implemented in this embodiment of the present application. Specific restrictions. Among them, network elements with the same or similar functions can be set jointly.

Part of the terms involved in the embodiments of the present application will be explained below to facilitate understanding.

1) Terminal equipment-assistance (terminal equipment-assistance) offloading mode, in the embodiment of the present application, the auxiliary offloading mode is used to indicate that the terminal device performs autonomous offloading based on the internal state, that is, the terminal device selects one or more transmission links for the upstream service flow .

2) The downstream service flow corresponding to the upstream service flow refers to the service flow formed after the source-destination IP exchange is included. For example, the downstream service flow formed after the source-destination IP exchange is the corresponding downstream service flow of the source-destination IP upstream flow. ; Or, the downstream service flow corresponding to the upstream service flow refers to including the upstream and downstream service flows belonging to the same QoS flow.

In addition, in an optional implementation manner of the embodiment of the present application, when the terminal device executes the auxiliary offload mode, the terminal device notifies the user plane network element to keep the offload mode of the downlink service flow consistent with the uplink offload mode.

In addition, the terms "system" and "network" in the embodiments of the present application may be used interchangeably. "At least one" means one or more, and "plurality" means two or more. "And/or", which describes the relationship of the associated objects, means that there can be three kinds of relationships, for example, A and/or B, which can mean that A exists alone, A and B exist at the same time, and B exists alone, where A , B can be singular or plural. The character "/" generally indicates that the associated objects are an "or" relationship. The following at least one item(s) or similar expressions refer to any combination of these items, including any combination of single item(s) or plural items(s). For example, at least one (a) of a, b, or c can represent: a, b, c, a-b, a-c, b-c, or a-b-c, where a, b, c may be single or multiple .

Unless stated to the contrary, ordinal numbers such as “first” and “second” mentioned in the embodiments of the present application are used to distinguish multiple objects, and are not used to limit the order, sequence, priority, or importance of multiple objects . In addition, the terms "comprising" and "having" in the embodiments and claims of the present application and the drawings are not exclusive. For example, a process, method, system, product or device that includes a series of steps or modules is not limited to the listed steps or modules, and may also include unlisted steps or modules.

Specifically, as shown in FIG. 4 , the steps of a service flow processing method provided by an embodiment of the present application are as follows:

S400. The terminal device receives first policy information from the session management network element, where the first policy information includes a first processing method for an upstream service flow.

In an optional manner of the embodiment of the present application, the first processing method may be understood as a primary offload mode in which the session management network element instructs the terminal device to perform service flow processing.

Exemplarily, it is assumed that the offloading mode includes an active-standby mode (Active-Standby), a minimal delay mode (Smallest Delay), a load-balancing mode (Load-Balancing), a priority-based mode, and the like.

Wherein, the first processing method is an active-standby mode (Active-Standby), which means that the session management network element instructs the terminal device to use the active-standby mode as an active-standby mode to offload service flows.

Further, the first policy information further includes first indication information, where the first indication information is used to indicate that the terminal device can determine the processing method of the upstream service flow.

S401. The terminal device determines that the first condition is satisfied.

In an optional manner of the embodiment of the present application, if the terminal device determines that the first condition is satisfied, it may be understood that the terminal device determines that it is satisfied to enter the auxiliary offload mode.

It should be noted that the first condition in this embodiment of the present application is not limited to entering the auxiliary distribution mode, or satisfying the auxiliary distribution mode, etc. Any distribution mode applicable to the embodiment of the application belongs to the protection scope of the embodiment of the application.

In an optional manner of the embodiment of the present application, the first condition may be an internal condition of the terminal device.

For example, the terminal device may determine whether the first condition is satisfied according to the current state of the terminal device, that is, determine whether to trigger the terminal device to enter the auxiliary offload mode.

Further, the terminal device may determine, according to the current state of its own, which service flows of itself enter the auxiliary offloading mode, that is, determine the target service flows that enter the auxiliary offloading mode.

Exemplarily, when the power of the terminal device is lower than the power threshold, the service flows 1 to 3 are triggered to enter the auxiliary offload mode. Wherein, it is assumed that the power threshold is 10%, and the current power of the terminal device is 9%. The terminal device determines that its own power is lower than the power threshold by 9%. Therefore, the terminal device triggers the service flows 1 to 3 to enter the auxiliary offload mode.

S402. The terminal device determines a second processing method for the upstream service flow or the downstream service flow.

In an optional manner in this embodiment of the present application, the terminal device determines the second processing method for the upstream service flow or the downstream service flow, which may be understood as the terminal device determining that the upstream service or the downstream service flow enters the offloading mode of the auxiliary offloading mode Program.

Wherein, after the upstream service flow or the downstream service flow in the terminal device enters the auxiliary offloading mode, the terminal device does not use the primary offloading mode for the upstream service flow, but decides the offloading mode by the terminal device itself.

For example, the terminal device selects one access technology to transmit the upstream service flow, or transmits the upstream service flow in two access technologies according to the distribution ratio determined by the terminal device.

Further, in the embodiment of the present application, when the terminal device determines the second processing method for the upstream service flow or the downstream service flow, it needs to determine that the terminal device can determine the upstream service according to the first indication information in the first policy information. Flow or downstream traffic flow processing method.

S403: The terminal device sends first notification information to the user plane network element, where the first notification information is used to notify the user plane network element of a third processing method for determining the downlink service flow corresponding to the upstream service flow.

It can be understood that the terminal device sends the first notification information to the user plane network element to assist the user plane network element in deciding whether to update the offload mode of the corresponding service flow.

In an optional implementation manner of the embodiment of the present application, the terminal device sends the first notification information to the user plane network element to request the user plane network element to also use the same offloading method as the terminal device for the downlink service flow.

Wherein, the first notification information may be a new message proposed in the process of the service flow offloading method of the application; or, the first notification information may be an improvement of the request sent by the terminal device to the user plane network element. For example, the first notification information may be a PMF request message.

The third processing method may be the same as the offload method requested by the terminal device, or may be another offload method determined by the user plane network element according to the actual situation.

S404. The user plane network element receives second policy information from the session management network element, where the second policy information includes a fourth processing method for the downlink service flow of the terminal device.

In an optional manner of the embodiment of the present application, the user plane network element searches for the second policy information of the corresponding downstream service flow based on the description of the upstream or downstream service flow. If the above-mentioned second policy information does not contain the second indication, the user plane network element processes the service flow based on the fourth processing method. Otherwise, the user plane network element determines, based on at least one of the cause value sent by the terminal device and the local policy, to process the service flow based on the third processing method or the fourth processing method. For example, when the second policy includes the second indication, the user plane network element determines a third processing method based on the flow description and offload information in the first notification message, and processes the downlink service flow based on the third processing method. In addition, the user plane network element sets a validity period for the above-mentioned third processing solution, and when the validity period expires, the user plane network element processes the downlink service flow based on the fourth processing method.

In an optional manner of the embodiment of the present application, the fourth processing method may be understood as a primary offload mode in which the session management network element instructs the user plane network element to perform service flow processing.

S405. The user plane network element uses the fourth processing method to process the downlink service flow.

S406. The user plane network element receives the first notification information from the terminal device.

S407. The user plane network element determines the third processing method according to the first notification information. In an optional manner of the embodiment of the present application, the user plane network element determines the third processing method in combination with the first notification information and the current state of itself.

In an optional manner of the embodiment of the present application, the user plane network element determines the third processing method by combining the first notification information, the second policy information, and its own current state.

The third processing method may be the second processing method if the user plane network element adopts the same offloading method for the downlink service flow as the terminal device according to the first notification information; if the user The plane network element determines, according to the first notification information, that it does not adopt the same offloading method as the terminal device for the downlink service flow, then the third processing method may be the fourth processing method, or may also be determined according to the actual situation other processing methods, which are not limited in the embodiments of the present application.

Through the above method, in the embodiment of the present application, after the terminal device satisfies the first condition and enters the auxiliary offload mode (that is, after using the second processing method to process the corresponding service flow), the terminal device sends the first condition to the user plane network element by sending the first A notification message to assist the user plane network element in deciding whether to update the offload mode of the corresponding downlink service flow, and determine the downlink offload policy based on the request of the terminal device (ie, according to the content of the first notification message). This effectively prevents the user plane network element from blindly determining the downlink offload strategy when the information is insufficient, so that the terminal equipment and the user plane network element have better coordination and adaptability when processing the service flow. It should be noted that the steps of service flow distribution in the above-mentioned FIG. 4 do not constitute a limitation on the embodiments of the present application. For example, the above-mentioned S404-S405 and S400-S403 are not distinguished in order, and the S404-S405 can be performed in this Any steps of S400 to S403 are executed before. In addition, in the process of executing the service flow offloading method in the embodiment of the present application, the above steps may be adaptively adjusted and deformed according to the actual situation.

Further, in an optional manner in this embodiment of the present application, the first notification information may include part or all of the following contents:

Content 1: The terminal device uses the second processing method to process the reason information for the upstream service flow or the downstream service flow.

The reason information may be used to indicate the internal state of the terminal device, or the reason why the terminal device enters the auxiliary offload mode, or the link status, or the access technology status, or user preference.

For example, the reason information includes low battery indication, low power consumption indication, resource optimization indication, link congestion indication, weak access signal indication, or user preference indication, etc.

Content 2: The first duration information that the terminal device adopts the second processing method.

Wherein, the first duration information may be a specific valid duration, for example, indicating the duration of the current state, or the duration of the auxiliary offload mode, or the duration of offload information sent by the terminal device.

In an optional implementation manner of this embodiment of the present application, the valid duration can be monitored by setting a timer. For example, if the valid duration is 5 minutes, the timing duration of the timer is set to 5 minutes. When the timer is normal When running, it means that the current state is continued, or the auxiliary distribution mode is continued. When the timer expires, the current state is terminated, or the auxiliary distribution mode is terminated.

The first duration information may also be a specific time point (eg, 3:00PM) or a time period (eg, 2:00PM-3:00PM).

Content 3: Information of the second processing method.

The information of the second processing method may be service flow description information, distribution information and the like of the service flow.

In an optional manner of the embodiment of the present application, the service flow description information may be flow description information of an upstream service flow or/and a downstream service flow.

The offloading information includes the offloading scheme for the downlink service flow requested by the terminal device, or the offloading scheme for the upstream service flow used by the terminal device, and specifically includes access technology indication, or access technology and offloading ratio information.

Wherein, when the service flow description information is the downlink service flow, the user plane network element may directly determine the downlink service flow based on the description information.

When the service flow description information is the upstream service flow corresponding to the downstream service flow, the user plane network element maps the description information of the upstream service flow into the downstream service flow description information, and determines the downstream service flow based on the downstream service flow description information .

Wherein, when the first notification information includes the valid first duration information that the terminal device adopts the second processing method, an optional method in this embodiment of the present application is that the user plane network element determines the third processing method when Afterwards, it may also be determined that the third processing method is used to process the second duration information of the service flow.

Specifically, the second duration information is confirmed by the user plane network element based on the first duration information, and the second duration information may be less than or equal to the first duration information.

An optional implementation manner of the embodiment of the present application, in the embodiment of the present application, within the valid time of the third processing method, the priority of the third processing method is higher than that of the fourth processing method. It can be understood that, in this embodiment of the present application, the user plane network element uses the fourth processing method when processing the service flow, and preferentially uses the third processing method to process the service only within a specified time period or a specific time. flow.

Further, in this embodiment of the present application, after receiving the first notification information, the user plane network element may also send second notification information to the terminal device, where the second notification information includes second indication information, the second notification information The indication information is used to indicate whether the user plane network element changes the processing method of the downlink service flow.

The second notification information may be understood as response information fed back to the terminal device by the user plane network element after receiving the first notification information. Thus, the terminal device is informed whether the user plane network element adopts the same processing method as the terminal device for the service flow, and the like.

In an optional manner of this embodiment of the present application, the second notification information may include some or all of the following contents:

Content 1: The reason information that the user plane network element adopts the third processing method to process the upstream service flow.

The reason information may be used to indicate the internal state of the user plane network element, or policy information used to indicate the user plane network element, and the like.

For example, the reason information includes that the user plane network element does not support the auxiliary offload mode of the terminal device, and the like.

Content 2: The user plane network element does not change the second duration information of the processing method of the downlink service flow.

Specifically, when the second indication information indicates that the user plane network element does not change the processing method of the downlink service flow, the second notification message may include second duration information that does not change the processing method of the downlink service flow.

The second duration information is used to instruct the terminal device not to send the first notification information to the user plane network element within the time specified by the second duration information.

Further, in an optional manner in the embodiment of the present application, the terminal device satisfies the second condition, and after resuming to use the first processing method to process the upstream service flow, the terminal device may also send third notification information to the user plane network element device. , and the third notification information is used to notify the terminal device to use the first processing method to process the service flow.

Therefore, after the user plane network element receives the third notification information, the fourth processing method is restored to process the service flow. That is, after the user plane network element receives that the terminal device exits the auxiliary offload mode, the user plane network element restores the primary offload mode indicated by the session management network element.

It should be noted that, in the embodiment of the present application, the first processing method for the terminal device to process the service flow may be the main offload mode in which the terminal device performs the service flow processing, and may also be other offload modes. For the convenience of introduction, Subsequent examples use the main split mode instead. In the embodiment of the present application, the second processing method for processing the service flow by the terminal device may be an auxiliary offloading mode in which the terminal device performs service flow processing, or other offloading modes. For the convenience of introduction, the auxiliary offloading mode will be used subsequently. replace. In the embodiment of the present application, the fourth processing method for processing the service flow by the user plane network element may be the main offload mode in which the user plane network element performs the service flow processing, or may be other offload modes. For the convenience of introduction, follow-up Use the main split mode instead. In this embodiment of the present application, the third processing method for the user plane network element to process the service flow may be an auxiliary offload mode for the user plane network element to process the service flow, or may be other offload modes. For the convenience of introduction, follow-up Substitute with auxiliary split mode.

Wherein, in order to better introduce the content shown in FIG. 4 , the following example in FIG. 5 is used for illustration.

Specifically, as shown in FIG. 5 , the steps of a service flow distribution method provided by an embodiment of the present application are as follows:

S500. The terminal device initiates a PDU session establishment process to the SMF.

In an optional implementation manner of the embodiment of the present application, the terminal device sends a PDU session establishment request (PDU session establishment req terminal device st) message to the SMF, which includes a PDU session identifier and a MA PDU request indication to indicate that the MA PDU is established. session.

S501. The SMF sends a policy request to the PCF.

In an optional implementation manner of the embodiment of the present application, the policy request includes an MA PDU session indication, which is used to indicate that the PDU session is an MA PDU session.

S502. The PCF delivers a PCC rule to the SMF, where the PCC rule includes policy information. Specifically, the PCC rule includes service flow description information, an offload mode, and an indication of an auxiliary offload mode of a terminal device.

The service flow description information may include one or more IP quintuple information (the IP quintuple information includes at least one of source and destination IP addresses, source and destination port numbers, and protocol identifiers), one or more MAC address information Or VLAN identification information, at least one application identification, SDF, or at least one QFI, etc.

The terminal equipment auxiliary offload mode indication is used to indicate the supported terminal equipment auxiliary offload mode. The auxiliary offloading mode includes, but is not limited to, Active-Standby, Smallest Delay, Load-Balancing, and Priority-based.

Among them, the distribution mode allocated by the network side for the service flow is called the main mode.

S503. The SMF determines the first policy information and the second policy information based on the PCC rule.

The first policy information includes a primary offload mode in which the terminal device performs service flow processing; the second policy information includes a primary offload mode in which the user plane network element performs service flow processing.

In addition, when the first policy information allows the terminal device to perform the auxiliary offload mode, the first policy information may further include first indication information, and the first indication information is used to indicate that the terminal device can determine the upstream service flow. The processing method, that is, at least the terminal device can perform the auxiliary offload mode.

When the second policy information allows the user plane network element to cooperate with the terminal device to perform the auxiliary offload mode, the second policy information may further include second indication information, and the second indication information is used to indicate that the user plane network element can Determine the processing method of the downlink service flow. In an optional implementation manner of the embodiment of the present application, the first policy information and/or the second policy information may be an ATSSS rule or a MAR (Multi-access rule) rule.

S504. The SMF sends the first policy information to the terminal device.

Wherein, the first policy information may further include corresponding service flow description information and the like.

S505. The SMF sends the second policy information to the user plane network element.

Wherein, the second policy information may further include corresponding service flow description information and the like.

S506. The terminal device receives the first policy information.

In an optional manner of the embodiment of the present application, the terminal device may further store the first policy information.

Further, according to the first policy information, the terminal device adopts the main offload mode to process the corresponding service flow.

S507. The user plane network element receives the second policy information.

In an optional manner of the embodiment of the present application, the user plane network element may further store the second policy information.

Further, according to the second policy information, the user plane network element adopts the main offload mode to process the corresponding service flow.

S508: After the terminal device satisfies the first condition, it is determined to enter the auxiliary offload mode.

S509. The terminal device generates first notification information, where the first notification information is used to indicate the time when the terminal device executes the auxiliary offload mode.

This embodiment of the present application is an optional implementation manner. In this embodiment of the present application, before generating the first notification information, the terminal device may further determine an offloading scheme for the terminal device to enter the auxiliary offloading mode; The offloading scheme of the auxiliary offloading mode generates first notification information.

The time at which the terminal device executes the auxiliary offload mode may be indicated by the auxiliary information in the first notification information.

Wherein, the auxiliary information may include at least one of first duration information that the terminal device adopts the auxiliary offload mode and reason information that the terminal device adopts the auxiliary offload mode.

Wherein, the first duration information may be a specific valid duration, for example, indicating the duration of the current state, or the duration of the auxiliary offload mode, or the duration of the offload information sent by the terminal device; or a specific duration point (eg 3:00PM) or time period (eg 2:00PM-3:00PM).

In an optional implementation manner of the embodiment of the present application, the effective duration can be monitored by setting a timer. When the timer runs normally, it means that the current state is continued, or the auxiliary offload mode is continued. When the timer expires After that, the current state is terminated, or the auxiliary shunt mode is terminated.

Further, in this embodiment of the present application, the first notification information may further include other information, which is not specifically limited to service flow description information, distribution information, and the like.

Wherein, the service flow description information is flow description information of an upstream service flow or/and a downstream service flow. The offloading information includes the offloading scheme for the downlink service flow requested by the terminal device, or the offloading scheme for the uplink service flow used by the terminal device, and specifically includes access technology indication, or access technology and offloading ratio information.

In an optional implementation manner of the embodiment of the present application, the first notification information is a PMF request.

S510. The terminal device sends the first notification information to the user plane network element.

S511. The user plane network element receives the first notification information.

S512: After determining to accept the first notification information, the user plane network element determines, according to the first notification information, to use the auxiliary offload mode to process the second time information of the corresponding service flow.

That is to say, the user plane network element determines whether the auxiliary offload mode can be performed according to the first notification information, and after determining that the auxiliary offload mode can be performed, it is determined that the user plane network element adopts the auxiliary offload mode to process the corresponding service The second duration information of the stream.

Wherein, the second duration information may be less than or equal to the execution time of the auxiliary offload mode indicated by the first notification information. An optional implementation manner of the embodiment of the present application, the user plane network element receives the first notification information and the local status, and determines whether to accept the first request; or the user plane network element receives the first notification information , and the second policy information, to determine whether to accept the first request; or the user plane network element receives the first notification information, the local status and the second policy information to determine whether to accept the first request.

Exemplarily, the user plane network element searches for a corresponding downlink service flow based on the service flow description information carried in the first notification information.

Wherein, when the service flow description indicates a downlink service flow, the user plane network element directly determines the downlink service flow based on the downlink service flow description information. When the service flow description indicates an upstream service flow, the user plane network element maps it into downstream service flow description information (for example, at least one of source and destination IP, source and destination port number, and protocol identifier), and determines based on the downstream service flow description information. Downstream traffic.

Then, the user plane network element determines the second policy information corresponding to the downlink service flow. When the secondary offload mode indication is not included in the second policy information, the user plane network element still uses the main mode to offload downlink services. Otherwise, when the second policy information includes an indication of an auxiliary offload mode, the user plane network element uses the auxiliary offload mode to process the downlink service flow.

S513. The user plane network element executes the auxiliary offload mode according to the second duration information.

Wherein, an optional execution mode of the embodiment of the present application is as follows:

After the user plane network element determines to accept the first notification information, the user plane network element generates third policy information according to the service flow information, traffic distribution information, etc. included in the first notification information, wherein the third policy information It includes an auxiliary offload mode in which the user plane network element performs service flow processing.

The user plane network element stores the third policy information, and sets the priority of the third policy information higher than the priority of the second policy information. That is, the priority of the offloading solution in the auxiliary offloading mode is set higher than that of the offloading solution in the main mode.

Further, the user plane network element may set a timer for the third policy information to take effect according to the second duration information. Wherein, when the timer does not expire, the third policy information takes effect. Because the priority of the third policy information is higher than that of the second policy information, the user plane network element uses the auxiliary offload mode to process the corresponding service flow . When the timer expires, the third policy information becomes invalid, and the user plane network element uses the main mode to process the corresponding service flow.

Further, after receiving the first notification information, or after determining the second duration information, the user plane network element may also feed back a response message to the terminal device, where the response message is used to inform whether to accept the first notification information or not. notification information.

In an optional manner of the embodiment of the present application, the response message includes a success or rejection indication, which is used to indicate whether the user plane network element modifies the downlink service flow distribution rule based on the first notification information sent by the terminal device.

Specifically, if the response message contains a success indication or an acceptance indication, it is used to indicate that the user plane network element has modified the downlink service flow distribution rule based on the first notification information of the terminal device.

If the response message contains a rejection or failure indication, it is used to indicate that the user plane network element refuses to modify the downlink service flow distribution rule based on the first notification information of the terminal device, and continues to use the main mode to distribute the downlink service flow.

In another optional manner of the embodiment of the present application, success or failure is indicated by the message name of the response message.

Specifically, after the user plane network element accepts the first notification information sent by the terminal device, the user plane network element feeds back the first notification information success message or the terminal device auxiliary offload mode success message. After the user plane network element rejects the first notification information sent by the terminal device, the user plane network element feeds back the first notification information failure message or the terminal device auxiliary mode failure message.

In addition, in this embodiment of the present application, the response message may also include other information, which is not limited to the following:

Information 1: When the response message indicates that the user plane network element accepts the first notification information of the terminal device, the response message may include time information set by the user plane network element to execute the terminal device auxiliary offload mode.

For example, the response message includes timer information and the like set by the user plane network element.

The timer is used to indicate that the terminal device does not need to initiate the first notification information for the same service flow before the timer expires. In addition, the terminal device can also be instructed to send the first notification message again after the timer expires and the service flow in the terminal device is still in the auxiliary offload mode, which is the same as step S510.

Information 2: When the response message indicates that the user plane network element rejects the first notification information of the terminal device, the response message may include the second duration information, which is used to indicate that the terminal device is specified in the second duration information. Within the time period, the user plane network element does not receive the first notification information sent from the terminal device. Information 3: The response message may also include service flow description information, or distribution information, etc.

Wherein, the service flow description information or the distribution information is used to identify the specific service flow or the specific distribution information, and is used to indicate the accepted or rejected service flow or the distribution information.

Information 4: When the response message indicates that the user plane network element rejects the first notification information of the terminal device, the response message may also include the reason for the rejection by the user plane network element.

for example:

The ATSSS rule received by the terminal device includes the flow description information of the upstream service flow 1, and the main offload mode is the load balancing mode, and the auxiliary offload mode indication.

Wherein, when the power of the terminal device is lower than 5%, the terminal device enters the auxiliary shunt mode. In this mode, the terminal device transmits all the data packets of the upstream service flow 1 through the 3GPP side, instead of using the load balancing mode of the main mode to simultaneously transmit the service flow 1 data packets through 3GPP and non3GPP.

Further, after the terminal device determines to enter the auxiliary offload mode, it sends a first request to the user plane network element, wherein the first request carries the flow description information of the service flow 1, and the offload information is the 3GPP access technology indication, and the validity period is 5. minutes, the reason value is "low battery".

The user plane network element receives the first request from the terminal device, wherein the first request includes the flow description information of the upstream service flow 1, the offload information is the 3GPP access technology indication, the validity period is 5 minutes, and the reason value is " low power".

The user plane network element searches for the downlink service flow corresponding to the service flow 1, and obtains the first distribution rule of the downlink service flow.

Case 1: If the primary offloading mode included in the first offloading rule is the smallest delay offloading mode (Smallest Delay), and the auxiliary offloading mode indication.

The user plane network element determines to modify the downlink offload mode based on the auxiliary offload mode indication and the low battery cause value. That is, the user plane network element no longer uses the minimum delay mode in the first offloading rule as downlink offloading, but generates the second offloading rule based on offloading information sent by the terminal device. The above-mentioned second offload rule is a offload rule for all offloading the downlink service flow 1 to the 3GPP access side.

In addition, the user plane network element sets the validity period for the second offload rule to 5 minutes based on the validity period sent by the terminal device or the local policy. When the user plane network element receives the downlink data packet of the service flow 1, the user plane network element finds the first offloading rule including the minimum delay offloading mode and the second offloading rule all of which are offloaded to the 3GPP side. When the second offloading rule is valid, the priority of the second offloading rule is higher than that of the first offloading rule, so the user plane network element adopts the second offloading rule to offload the downstream service flow 1, that is, the downstream traffic of the service flow 1 All are transmitted through the 3GPP access side tunnel.

Case 2: If the primary offloading mode included in the first offloading rule is the smallest-delay offloading mode, but does not include an indication of the auxiliary offloading mode.

Then, the user plane network element still uses the minimum delay mode to offload the downlink data packets of the service flow 1.

Specifically, as shown in FIG. 6 , the steps of another service flow distribution method provided by the embodiment of the present application are as follows:

S600. The terminal device receives first policy information from the session management network element, where the first policy information includes a first processing method for an upstream service flow.

S601. The terminal device determines that the first condition is satisfied.

In an optional manner of the embodiment of the present application, the terminal device may determine whether the first condition is satisfied according to the current state of the terminal device, that is, determine whether to trigger the terminal device to enter the auxiliary offload mode.

S602. The terminal device determines a second processing method for the upstream service flow, and uses the second processing method to process the upstream service flow.

In an optional manner in this embodiment of the present application, the terminal device determines the second processing method for the upstream service flow, which may be understood as the terminal device determining the offload scheme in which the upstream service flow enters the auxiliary offload mode.

Wherein, after the upstream service flow in the terminal device enters the auxiliary offloading mode, the terminal device does not use the primary offloading mode for the upstream service flow, but decides the offloading mode by the terminal device itself.

Further, in the embodiment of the present application, when the terminal device determines the second processing method of the upstream service flow, it needs to determine the processing method that the terminal device can determine the upstream service flow according to the first indication information in the first policy information. .

S603. The terminal device determines that the second condition is satisfied.

In an optional manner of the embodiment of the present application, if the terminal device determines that the second condition is satisfied, it may be understood that the terminal device determines to restore the main offload mode.

It should be noted that the second condition in this embodiment of the present application is not limited to entering the main branch mode, or satisfying the main branch mode, etc. Any branch mode applicable to the embodiment of the present application falls within the protection scope of the embodiment of the present application.

In an optional manner of the embodiment of the present application, the terminal device may determine whether the second condition is satisfied according to the current state of the terminal device, that is, determine whether to trigger the terminal device to resume the main offload mode.

Further, the terminal device may determine which of its own service flows to restore to the main offload mode according to the current state of the terminal device, that is, to determine the target service flow for restoring the main offload mode.

Exemplarily, when the power of the terminal device is higher than the power threshold, the service flows 1 to 3 are triggered to resume the main offload mode. Wherein, it is assumed that the power threshold is 10%, and the current power of the terminal device is 50%. The terminal device determines that its own power is higher than the power threshold by 9%. Therefore, the terminal device triggers the service flows 1 to 3 to resume the main offload mode.

S604. The terminal device restores the first processing method to process the upstream service flow.

S605: The terminal device sends first notification information to the user plane network element, where the first notification information is used to notify the terminal device to use the first processing method to process the service flow.

It can be understood that the terminal device sends the first notification information to the user plane network element to inform the user plane network element that the terminal device has resumed the primary offload mode. Wherein, the first notification information may be a new message proposed in the process of the service flow offloading method of the application; or, the first notification information may be an improvement of the request sent by the terminal device to the user plane network element. For example, the first notification information may be a PMF request.

S606. The user plane network element receives second policy information from the session management network element, where the second policy information includes a fourth processing method for the downlink service flow of the terminal device.

S607. The user plane network element uses the fourth processing method to process the downlink service flow.

In an optional manner of the embodiment of the present application, after the terminal device enters the auxiliary offload mode, the user plane network element also uses the assistant offload mode to process the service flow.

In this embodiment of the present application, the fourth processing method may be an auxiliary distribution mode.

S608. The user plane network element receives the first notification information from the terminal device.

S609. The user plane network element resumes processing the downlink service flow by using the third processing method according to the first notification information.

Through the above method, in this embodiment of the present application, after the terminal device satisfies the second condition and can restore the main offload mode, it sends the third notification information to the user plane network element, so that the user plane network element can receive the After the third notification information, the first processing method is restored to process the upstream service flow, which provides a solution that supports the user plane network element to cooperate with the terminal device to restore the main mode to perform downstream service flow offloading, which is more adaptable.

It should be noted that the steps of service flow distribution shown in FIG. 6 above do not limit the embodiments of the present application. For example, the above S606 and S600 are not distinguished in order, and the S606 can be performed before the S600. In addition, in the process of executing the service flow offloading method in the embodiment of the present application, the above steps may be adaptively adjusted and deformed according to the actual situation.

Further, in an optional manner in this embodiment of the present application, in addition to instructing the terminal device to resume using the first processing method to process the service flow, the first notification information may also include some or all of the following contents:

Content 1: Information on the reason why the terminal device restores the first processing method to process the upstream service flow.

The reason information may be used to indicate the internal state of the terminal device, or the reason why the terminal device resumes the main offload mode, or the link status, or the access technology status, or user preference.

Content 2: The terminal device is expected to restore the first duration information for processing the upstream service flow by the first processing method.

The first duration information may be a specific valid duration, for example, indicating the duration of the current state, or the duration of the auxiliary offload mode.

Exemplarily, the first duration information included in the first notification information is 3:00 PM, which means that the terminal device will resume the first processing method to process the service flow at 3:00 PM. Therefore, the user plane device can The third processing method is also resumed to process the traffic flow at 3:00 PM.

Content 3: Information of the first processing method.

The information of the first processing method may be service flow description information, distribution information and the like of the service flow.

Content 1: The user plane network element refuses to restore the reason information for processing the upstream service flow by the third processing method.

Among them, in order to better introduce the content shown in FIG. 6, the following embodiment 2 is provided for detailed description. It should be noted that the following embodiment is only used for illustration, and does not constitute the embodiment of the present application. limited.

Embodiment 2. The first notification information is a request to terminate the auxiliary offload mode.

Specifically, as shown in FIG. 7 , the steps of a service flow distribution method provided by an embodiment of the present application are as follows:

S700. The terminal device exits the auxiliary distribution mode based on the current state.

In an optional implementation manner of this embodiment of the present application, when the power of the terminal device is sufficient (for example, the power exceeds 20%) and/or the link state is not congested, the terminal device exits the auxiliary offload mode, that is, the terminal device recovers Use main mode to offload upstream traffic.

S701. The terminal device sends first notification information to a user plane network element, where the first notification information is a request to terminate the auxiliary offload mode.

The first notification information includes an auxiliary mode termination indication or a recovery main mode indication, which is used to indicate that the auxiliary offload mode is terminated, or that the terminal device adopts the main mode to offload the upstream service flow, or is used to indicate that the terminal device requests a downlink service. Streams are split based on the main mode.

In an optional implementation manner of this embodiment of the present application, the first notification information may be a PMF request.

In an optional implementation manner of the embodiment of the present application, the first notification information may further include service flow description information, which is used to indicate that the auxiliary offload mode is terminated for the above-mentioned service flow, or the offload is performed for the above-mentioned service flow recovery to the main mode.

S702. The user plane network element receives the first notification information.

S703. The user plane network element determines to restore the primary offload mode according to the first notification information.

In an optional implementation manner of the embodiment of the present application, after the user plane network element receives the first notification information, the user plane network element updates the downlink service flow offload mode based on the above information, that is, restores the main offload mode.

The offloading method shown in FIG. 7 may be combined with the offloading method shown in FIG. 5 . For example, after receiving the instruction to terminate the auxiliary offloading mode, the user plane network element sets the third policy information to be invalid, Thus, downlink service offloading based on the primary offloading mode included in the second policy information is resumed. That is, the user plane NE is in the auxiliary offload mode, and the execution duration of the auxiliary offload mode is still within the valid duration, but the user plane NE receives an instruction to terminate the auxiliary offload mode, then the user plane NE directly resumes the main offload mode. Split mode.

Wherein, before the S700 in this embodiment of the present application, the above steps S500 to S507 may also be performed. For the sake of brevity, reference may be made to the content in the above scenario 1, which will not be repeated here.

Further, after receiving the first notification information, the user plane network element may also feed back a response message to the terminal device, where the response message is used to notify whether to receive the first notification information.

If the response message contains a rejection or failure indication, it is used to indicate that the user plane network element refuses to modify the downlink service flow distribution rule based on the first notification information of the terminal device, and continues to use the auxiliary distribution mode to distribute the downlink service flow.

Specifically, after the user plane network element accepts the first notification information sent by the terminal device, the user plane network element feeds back a success message of the first notification information or a success message of the terminal device restoring the primary offload mode. After the user plane network element rejects the first notification information sent by the terminal device, the user plane network element feeds back a failure message of the first notification information or a failure message of restoring the main offload mode.

In addition, in this embodiment of the present application, the response message may further include the reason for the rejection of the user plane network element.

From the above introduction to the solution of the present application, it can be understood that, in order to realize the above functions, the above implementing devices include corresponding hardware structures and/or software modules for executing each function. Those skilled in the art should easily realize that the present invention can be implemented in hardware or a combination of hardware and computer software in conjunction with the units and algorithm steps of each example described in the embodiments disclosed herein. Whether a function is performed by hardware or computer software driving hardware depends on the specific application and design constraints of the technical solution. Skilled artisans may implement the described functionality using different methods for each particular application, but such implementations should not be considered beyond the scope of the present invention.

Based on the above embodiments, as shown in FIG. 8 , an embodiment of the present application further provides a service flow processing apparatus, the apparatus including a processor 800 , a memory 801 and a communication interface 802 .

The processor 800 is responsible for managing the bus architecture and general processing, and the memory 801 may store data used by the processor 800 when performing operations. The transceiver communication interface 802 is used to receive and transmit data under the control of the processor 800 for data communication with the memory 801 .

The processor 800 may be a central processing unit (CPU), a network processor (NP), or a combination of CPU and NP. The processor 800 may further include a hardware chip. The above-mentioned hardware chip may be an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a programmable logic device (PLD) or a combination thereof. The above-mentioned PLD can be a complex programmable logic device (CPLD), a field-programmable gate array (FPGA), a general-purpose array logic (generic array logic, GAL) or any combination thereof. The memory 801 may include: a U disk, a removable hard disk, a read-only memory (ROM), a random access memory (RAM), a magnetic disk or an optical disk and other media that can store program codes.

The processor 800 , the memory 801 and the communication interface 802 are connected to each other. In an optional implementation manner of the embodiment of the present application, the processor 800, the memory 801, and the communication interface 802 may be connected to each other through a bus 803; the bus 803 may be a peripheral component interconnection standard (peripheral component) interconnect, PCI) bus or extended industry standard architecture (extended industry standard architecture, EISA) bus, etc. The bus can be divided into an address bus, a data bus, a control bus, and the like. For convenience of representation, only one thick line is used in FIG. 8, but it does not mean that there is only one bus or one type of bus.

Wherein, when the service flow processing apparatus is a terminal device, the processor 800 is configured to read the program in the memory 801 and execute the method process performed by the terminal device in S400 to S404 shown in FIG. 4; or execute As shown in FIG. 5 , the method process performed by the terminal device described in S500 to S511 is performed; the method process performed by the terminal device described in S600 to S603 as shown in FIG. 6 is performed; The method flow performed by the terminal device.

Wherein, when the service flow processing device is a user plane network element, the processor 800 is configured to read the program in the memory 801 and execute the method performed by the user plane network element in S400 to S404 shown in FIG. 4 . or execute the method flow of the user plane network element execution described in S500 to S511 shown in FIG. 5 ; execute the method flow of the user plane network element execution described in S600 to S603 shown in FIG. 6 ; The flow of the method performed by the user plane network element in S700 to S706 shown in 7.

As shown in FIG. 9, the present invention provides a service flow processing apparatus, the service flow processing apparatus includes: at least one processing unit 900, at least one storage unit 901 and at least one communication unit 902, wherein the communication unit 902 is used for Data is received and transmitted under the control of the processing unit 900, and the storage unit 901 stores program codes.

Wherein, in an optional manner of the embodiment of the present application, the service flow processing apparatus is a terminal device, and when the program code is executed by the processing unit 900, the processing unit 900 is caused to perform the following process:

for receiving, through the communication unit 902, the first policy information from the session management network element, where the first policy information includes the first processing method of the upstream service flow; if the terminal device satisfies the first condition, determine the upstream service The second processing method for the flow or downlink service flow; the first notification information is sent to the user plane network element through the communication unit 902, and the first notification information is used to notify the user plane network element to determine the downlink service flow corresponding to the upstream service flow. the third treatment method.

As a possible implementation method, the first notification information includes: the terminal device determines the reason information for the second processing method to process the upstream service flow; and/or, the terminal device determines the second The first duration information for which the processing method is valid.

As a possible implementation method, the first notification information further includes: information of the second processing method.

As a possible implementation method, the method processing unit 900 is further configured to:

Receive second notification information from the user plane network element, where the second notification information includes second indication information, and the second indication information is used to indicate whether the user plane network element changes the processing of the downlink service flow method.

As a possible implementation method, the method further includes: within the time specified by the second duration information, the terminal device does not send the first notification information to the user plane network element.

If the terminal device satisfies the second condition, it is determined to use the first processing method to process the upstream service flow.

Send third notification information to the user plane network element to notify the terminal device to use the first processing method to process the upstream service flow.

In an optional manner of the embodiment of the present application, the service flow processing apparatus is a user plane network element, and when the program code is executed by the processing unit 900, the processing unit 900 is caused to perform the following process:

for receiving, through the communication unit 902, second policy information from the session management network element, where the second policy information includes a fourth processing method for the downlink service flow of the terminal device; using the fourth processing method to process the downlink service flow; receiving first notification information from the terminal device through the communication unit 902, where the first notification information is used to notify the user plane network element to determine the third processing method for the downlink service flow; according to the first notification information The third processing method is determined.

As a possible implementation method, the first notification information includes: the terminal device determines the reason information for the second processing method to process the upstream service flow.

As a possible implementation method, the method processing unit 900 is specifically used for:

The third processing method is determined according to the reason information and the second indication information. As a possible implementation method, the first notification information further includes:

Description information and offload information of the upstream service flow corresponding to the downlink service flow; or, flow description information and offload information of the downlink service flow.

The user plane network element determines the third processing method according to the description information and offload information of the uplink or downlink service flow.

Determine the second duration information using the third processing method.

As a possible implementation method, the first notification information further includes: first duration information for which the terminal device determines that the second processing method is valid.

The second duration information is confirmed based on the first duration information.

Send second notification information to the user plane network element, where the second notification information includes second indication information, where the second indication information is used to indicate whether the user plane network element changes the processing method of the downlink service flow.

Within the time specified by the second duration information, the first notification information sent from the terminal device is not received.

Receive third notification information from the terminal device, where the third notification information is used to notify the terminal device to use the first processing method to process the service flow.

The fourth processing method is resumed to process the service flow.

for receiving, through the communication unit 902, the first policy information from the session management network element, where the first policy information includes the first processing method of the upstream service flow; after satisfying the first condition, determine the upstream service flow or the downstream service flow a second processing method for the service flow, and use the second processing method to process the upstream service flow; determine that the second condition is satisfied, restore the first processing method to process the upstream service flow; send the communication unit 902 to the user plane The network element sends first notification information, where the first notification information is used to notify the terminal device to use the first processing method to process the service flow.

Receive second notification information from the user plane network element, where the second notification information includes third indication information, where the third indication information is used to indicate whether the user plane network element changes the processing of the downlink service flow method.

for receiving, through the communication unit 902, second policy information from the session management network element, where the second policy information includes a third processing method for the downlink service flow of the terminal device; using the fourth processing method to process the downlink service flow; Receive first notification information from the terminal device through the communication unit 902, where the first notification information is used to notify the terminal device to resume using the first processing method to process the service flow; resume using the first processing method according to the first notification information The third processing method processes the downlink service flow.

As a possible implementation method, before the user plane network element adopts the fourth processing method to process the downlink service flow, the method communication unit 902 is further configured to:

receiving third notification information from the terminal device; the third notification information is used to notify a user plane network element to determine a fourth processing method for the downlink service flow;

The method processing unit 900 is also used for:

The fourth processing method is determined according to the third notification information.

As a possible implementation method, the third notification information includes: the terminal device determines the reason information for the second processing method to process the upstream service flow.

The fourth processing method is determined according to the reason information and the second indication information that the terminal device determines the second processing method to process the upstream service flow or the downstream service flow.

The fourth processing method is determined according to the reason information for determining the second processing method by the terminal device to process the upstream service flow or the downstream service flow and the local policy of the user plane network element.

The fourth processing method is determined according to the reason information for processing the upstream service flow or the downstream service flow, the second indication information and the local policy of the user plane network element determined by the terminal device in the second processing method.

Determine the second duration information using the fourth processing method.

As a possible implementation method, the method communication unit 902 is further configured to:

Send second notification information to the terminal device, where the second notification information includes third indication information, where the third indication information is used to indicate whether the user plane network element changes the processing method of the downlink service flow.

During the time specified by the second duration information, the third notification information sent from the terminal device is not received.

The functions of the communication unit 902 and the processing unit 900 shown in FIG. 9 may be executed by the processor 800 running the program in the memory 801 , or executed by the processor 800 alone.

The service flow processing apparatus shown in FIG. 9 may be the terminal device in the foregoing embodiment, or a chip in the terminal device; or may be the user plane network element in the foregoing embodiment, or the user plane network element in the foregoing embodiment. chip.

As shown in FIG. 2 above, the present invention provides a service flow processing system, and the service flow processing system includes: a terminal device 200, a session management network element 210, and a user plane network element 220;

An optional manner in this embodiment of the present application:

The session management network element 210 is configured to send first policy information to the terminal device, where the first policy information includes a first processing method for an upstream service flow; and is further configured to send to the user plane network element second policy information, where the second policy information includes a fourth method for processing downlink service flows of the terminal device;

The terminal device 200 is configured to receive the first policy information from the session management network element; if the terminal device satisfies the first condition, determine the second processing method of the upstream service flow or the downstream service flow; The element sends first notification information, where the first notification information is used to notify the user plane network element to determine the third processing method of the downlink service flow corresponding to the uplink service flow;

The user plane network element 220 is configured to receive the second policy information from the session management network element; use the fourth processing method to process the downlink service flow; receive the first notification information from the terminal device, the The first notification information is used to notify the user plane network element to determine the third processing method of the downlink service flow; the third processing method is determined according to the first notification information.

Another optional manner in this embodiment of the present application:

The session management network element 210 is configured to send first policy information to the terminal device, where the first policy information includes a first processing method for an upstream service flow; and is further configured to send to the user plane network element second policy information, where the second policy information includes a third method for processing downlink service flows of the terminal device;

The terminal device 200 is configured to receive the first policy information from the session management network element; after satisfying the first condition, determine the second processing method of the upstream service flow or the downstream service flow, and adopt the second processing method The method processes the upstream service flow; determines that the second condition is satisfied, and restores the first processing method to process the upstream service flow; sends first notification information to a user plane network element, where the first notification information is used to notify the The terminal device uses the first processing method to process the service flow;

The user plane network element 220 is configured to receive the second policy information from the session management network element; use the fourth processing method to process the downlink service flow; receive the first notification information from the terminal equipment, the first The notification information is used to notify the terminal device to resume using the first processing method to process the service flow; and to resume using the third processing method to process the downlink service flow according to the first notification information.

In some possible implementations, various aspects of the service flow distribution method provided by the embodiments of the present invention may also be implemented in the form of a program product, which includes program code, and when the program code runs on a computer device, all The program code is used to cause the computer device to execute the steps in the service flow offloading method according to various exemplary embodiments of the present invention described in this specification.

The program product may employ any combination of one or more readable media. The readable medium may be a readable signal medium or a readable storage medium. The readable storage medium may be, for example, but not limited to, an electrical, magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, infrared, or semiconductor system, apparatus or device, or a combination of any of the above. More specific examples (non-exhaustive list) of readable storage media include: electrical connections with one or more wires, portable disks, hard disks, random access memory (RAM), read only memory (ROM), erasable programmable read only memory (EPROM or flash memory), optical fiber, portable compact disk read only memory (CD-ROM), optical storage devices, magnetic storage devices, or any suitable combination of the foregoing.

A program product for performing traffic offloading according to an embodiment of the present invention may adopt a portable compact disk read only memory (CD-ROM) and include program codes, and may run on a server device. However, the program product of the present invention is not limited thereto, and in this document, a readable storage medium may be any tangible medium that contains or stores a program that can be used by or in conjunction with an information transmission, apparatus, or device.

A readable signal medium may include a data signal propagated in baseband or as part of a cell, carrying readable program code therein. Such propagated data signals may take a variety of forms including, but not limited to, electromagnetic signals, optical signals, or any suitable combination of the foregoing. A readable signal medium can also be any readable medium, other than a readable storage medium, that can transmit, propagate, or transport a program for use by or in connection with a periodic network action system, apparatus, or device.

Program code embodied on a readable medium may be transmitted using any suitable medium including, but not limited to, wireless, wireline, optical fiber cable, RF, etc., or any suitable combination of the foregoing.

Program code for carrying out operations of the present invention may be written in any combination of one or more programming languages, including object-oriented programming languages—such as Java, C++, etc., as well as conventional procedural Programming Language - such as the "C" language or similar programming language. The program code may execute entirely on the user computing device, partly on the user device, as a stand-alone software package, partly on the user computing device and partly on a remote computing device, or entirely on the remote computing device or server execute on. In the case of a remote computing device, the remote computing device may be connected to the user computing device through any kind of network, including a local area network (LAN) or a wide area network (WAN), or may be connected to an external computing device.

Embodiments of the present application further provide a computing device-readable storage medium for a terminal device to perform a service flow offloading method, that is, content is not lost after a power failure. Software programs are stored in the storage medium, including program codes. When the program codes are run on a computing device, the software programs can implement any of the above embodiments of the present application when read and executed by one or more processors. A solution for business flow diversion.

The embodiments of the present application further provide a computing device-readable storage medium for a network device to perform a service flow offloading method, that is, the content is not lost after a power failure. Software programs are stored in the storage medium, including program codes. When the program codes are run on a computing device, the software programs can implement any of the above embodiments of the present application when read and executed by one or more processors. A solution for business flow diversion.

The present application is described above with reference to block diagrams and/or flowchart illustrations illustrating methods, apparatus (systems) and/or computer program products according to embodiments of the present application. It will be understood that a block of the block diagrams and/or flowchart illustrations, and combinations of blocks of the block diagrams and/or flowchart illustrations, can be implemented by computer program instructions. These computer program instructions may be provided to a general purpose computer, a processor of a special purpose computer and/or other programmable data processing apparatus to produce a machine such that the instructions executed via the computer processor and/or other programmable data processing apparatus create a Methods of implementing the functions/acts specified in the block diagrams and/or flowchart blocks.

Accordingly, the present application may also be implemented in hardware and/or software (including firmware, resident software, microcode, etc.). Still further, the present application may take the form of a computer program product on a computer-usable or computer-readable storage medium having computer-usable or computer-readable program code embodied in the medium for use by an instruction execution system or Used in conjunction with an instruction execution system. In the context of this application, a computer-usable or computer-readable medium can be any medium that can contain, store, communicate, transmit, or transmit a program for use by, or in connection with, an instruction execution system, apparatus, or device. device or equipment use.

Although the application has been described in conjunction with specific features and embodiments thereof, it will be apparent that various modifications and combinations can be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the application. Accordingly, this specification and drawings are merely exemplary illustrations of the application as defined by the appended claims, and are deemed to cover any and all modifications, variations, combinations or equivalents within the scope of this application. Obviously, those skilled in the art can make various changes and modifications to the present application without departing from the scope of the present application. Thus, if these modifications and variations of the present application fall within the scope of the claims of the present application and their equivalents, the present application is also intended to include these modifications and variations.

Claims

A business flow processing method, comprising:

The terminal device receives first policy information from the session management network element, where the first policy information includes a first processing method for an upstream service flow;

If the terminal device satisfies the first condition, the terminal device determines a second processing method for the upstream service flow;

The terminal device sends first notification information to the user plane network element, where the first notification information is used to notify the user plane network element of a processing method for determining the downstream service flow corresponding to the upstream service flow.
The method according to claim 1, wherein the first policy information further includes first indication information, wherein the first indication information is used to indicate that the terminal device can determine the processing method of the upstream service flow.
The method according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the first notification information comprises:

The terminal device determines the reason information for processing the upstream service flow by using the second processing method; and/or,

The terminal device determines first duration information for which the second processing method is valid.
The method according to claim 3, wherein the first notification information further comprises: information of the second processing method.
The method according to claim 4, wherein the information of the second processing method comprises:

Description information and distribution information of the upstream service flow.
The method according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the method further comprises:

The terminal device receives second notification information from the user plane network element, the second notification information includes second indication information, and the second indication information is used to indicate whether the user plane network element changes the downlink The processing method of the business flow.
The method according to claim 6, wherein, if the second indication information indicates that the user plane network element does not change the processing method of the downlink service flow, the second notification message further comprises:

The second duration information of the processing method of the downlink service flow is not changed.
The method according to claim 7, wherein the method further comprises:

Within the time specified by the second duration information, the terminal device no longer sends the first notification information to the user plane network element.
The method according to any one of claims 1 to 8, wherein the method further comprises:

If the terminal device satisfies the second condition, the terminal device determines to use the first processing method to process the upstream service flow.
The method according to claim 9, wherein the method further comprises:

The terminal device sends third notification information to the user plane network element, which is used to notify the terminal device to use the first processing method to process the upstream service flow.
A business flow processing method, comprising:

The user plane network element receives second policy information from the session management network element, where the second policy information includes a fourth processing method for the downlink service flow of the terminal device;

The user plane network element uses the fourth processing method to process the downlink service flow;

The user plane network element receives first notification information from the terminal device, where the first notification information is used to notify the user plane network element to determine a processing method for the downlink service flow;

The user plane network element determines to use the third processing method to process the downlink service flow according to the first notification information.
The method according to claim 11, wherein the second policy information further comprises second indication information, and the second indication information is used to indicate that the user plane network element can modify the processing of the downlink service flow method.
The method according to claim 11 or 12, wherein the first notification information comprises:

The terminal device determines the reason information for using the second processing method to process the upstream service flow.
The method according to claim 13, wherein the user plane network element determines the processing method of the downlink service flow according to the first notification information, comprising:

The user plane network element determines the processing method of the downlink service flow according to the reason information and the second indication information.
The method according to any one of claims 11 to 14, wherein the first notification information further comprises:

Description information and offload information of the upstream service flow corresponding to the downlink service flow; or, flow description information and offload information of the downlink service flow.
The method according to claim 15, wherein the user plane network element determines the processing method of the downlink service flow according to the first notification information, comprising:

The user plane network element determines the processing method of the downlink service flow according to the description information and distribution information of the uplink service flow, or the flow description information and the distribution information of the downlink service flow.
The method according to any one of claims 11 to 16, wherein the priority of the third processing method is higher than that of the fourth processing method.
The method according to any one of claims 11 to 17, wherein the method further comprises:

The user plane network element determines the second duration information using the third processing method.
The method according to any one of claims 11 to 18, wherein the first notification information further comprises:

Information about the valid first duration of the second processing method determined by the terminal device.
The method according to claim 19, wherein determining the second duration information using the third processing method comprises:

The user plane network element determines the second duration information based on the first duration information.
The method according to any one of claims 11 to 20, wherein the method further comprises:

The user plane network element sends second notification information to the terminal device, where the second notification information includes second indication information, and the second indication information is used to indicate whether the user plane network element changes the status of the downlink service flow. Approach.
The method according to claim 21, wherein, if the second indication information indicates that the user plane network element does not change the processing method of the downlink service flow, the second notification message further comprises:

The second duration information of the processing method of the downlink service flow is not changed.
The method of claim 22, wherein the method further comprises:

Within the time specified by the second duration information, the user plane network element does not receive the first notification information sent from the terminal device.
The method according to any one of claims 11 to 23, wherein the method further comprises:

The user plane network element receives third notification information from the terminal device, where the third notification information is used to notify the terminal device to use the first processing method to process the service flow.
The method of claim 24, wherein the method further comprises:

The user plane network element uses the fourth processing method to process the service flow.
A service flow processing device, comprising: one or more processors; a memory; a transceiver;

Wherein, the processor is configured to read the program in the memory and execute the method according to any one of claims 1-10; or execute the method according to any one of claims 11-25.
A communication system, comprising:

a session management network element, configured to send policy information to the user plane network element, where the policy information includes a method for processing downlink service flows of the terminal device;

a user plane network element, configured to receive the policy information from the session management network element; use the fourth processing method to process the downlink service flow; receive the first notification information from the terminal device, the first notification information A notification information is used to notify the user plane network element to determine the processing method of the downlink service flow; according to the first notification information, it is determined to use the third processing method to process the downlink service flow.
A computer-readable storage medium, characterized by comprising computer instructions, when the computer instructions are executed on a service flow processing apparatus, the service flow processing apparatus is made to execute the method according to any one of claims 1 to 10. or perform the method according to any one of claims 11-25.
A computer program product, characterized in that the computer program product comprises computer instructions, when the computer instructions are executed by a service flow processing apparatus, the service flow processing apparatus is made to execute any one of claims 1-10 or performing the method according to any one of claims 11-25.